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Middle Class Consonants

In school we are starting to learn to read and write. The Thai language has 44 consonants and classifies them as low, middle, and high. The classification is used to determine the tone (low, middle, high, rising, falling) of the syllable. Here are the middle class consonants:

ก – gaw gài – chicken

จ – jaw jaan – plate

ฎ – daw chá daa – crown

ฏ – dtaw bpà dtàk – spear

ด – daw dèk – child

ต – dtaw dtào – turtle

บ – baw bai máai – leaf

ป – bpaw bplaa – fish

อ – aw àang – basin

Consonants are named after the sound they make and an object. For example, ก (gaw gài) makes the same sound as the letter ‘G’ and is given the name “chicken”. This is necessary in order to distinguish consonants from each other that might have the same sound but are in a different consonant class.